How Chris Colfer Came To Own Three Fish
by an-alternate-world
Summary: Fic prompt for 100th reviewer of WYGC. Remember when Chris tweeted about owning three fish? This is where he got them from. RPF.


**Title:** How Chris Colfer Came To Own Three Fish  
><strong>Author:<strong> an-alternate-world  
><strong>Rating:<strong> K  
><strong>CharactersPairings:** Chris/Darren  
><strong>Word count:<strong> 1,247  
><strong>Summary:<strong> Fic prompt for 100th reviewer of WYGC. Remember when Chris tweeted about owning three fish? This is where he got them from. RPF.  
><strong>WarningsSpoilers: **CHRIS HAS FISH. ZOMG. SPOILERZZ.  
><strong>Disclaimer: <strong>I am in no way associated with _Glee, FOX_, Ryan Murphy or anything else related to the _Glee _universe. Nor do I know Chris or Darren and so I hope to God they never see this..

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><p>He stumbled towards the door, still dressed in his pyjamas and rubbing his eyes. He didn't even think to look outside of the peephole before opening the door.<p>

"Surprise!"

He blinked dazedly. "Darren, what on earth are you doing here at eight in the morning?"

"I bought you a pet!" Darren grinned, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Actually, I bought you three, but you'll barely even notice that there's more than one."

"A pet?" Chris subtly pinched himself. Nope. Not a dream. Damn.

"Yup!" Darren's hand, which Chris had barely even noticed was behind his back, was suddenly thrust out. And in it was a plastic bag filled with water and…three goldfish.

"Fish, Darren? You bought me _fish_?"

"Well, I figured that fish were far less demanding than a cat or a dog and so now you can go away and not need to make sure Ashley's over every other day to feed it!"

"It's not like fish don't need food every day too," Chris pointed out, staring at the fish swimming in their bulging bag.

"Stop being such a spoil sport!" Darren said, shoving past Chris and carrying a bag filled with a small bowl that he'd already filled with pebbles and a little castle that was a surprisingly similar match to Hogwarts. He carefully settled the carry bag down and waited patiently for Chris to follow him into the living room.

"You bought me _fish_," Chris repeated as he shuffled in, arms around his waist as he stared at Darren unloading the bag. His eyes caught the red and gold pebbles and he started laughing. "You are _such _a fanboy."

Darren shrugged and held the bowl out to him. "Go fill it up. The fish will need more water which is fresher than what they're currently in."

Chris stared at the bowl, entirely non-plussed, until Darren waved it at him and he sighed, snatching the bowl and heading for the kitchen. He examined the castle and stared out the window as the bowl filled to a satisfactory level before carefully walking back to where he had left Darren.

"Okay, put it down here and I'll tip the fish in," Darren said, back to hopping like an over-eager child on Christmas morning.

"Have you named them yet?" Chris asked as he set the bowl down and Darren fiddled with the elastic band tied around the bag.

Darren's cheeks turned pink as he coaxed the fish into their new home.

"Alright, what are their names?" Chris said as he pulled out a chair and watched the fish swimming around.

"Well…um…" Darren bit his lip and sat on a chair. "The yellowy-almost-white one is Patsy." He pointed to the silvery fish that was inspecting the castle. "The goldfish with the red patches is Eddie."

"Let me guess, the remaining one is Saffy?" Chris said, pressing his lips together so he didn't start laughing.

Darren nodded with a bright smile, staring with huge eyes at the fish swimming around the glass bowl.

"So why exactly was I lucky enough to be the proud owner of three fish at eight in the morning?" Chris said, shielding his mouth as he yawned.

"You needed something to cheer up your day," Darren said, leaning back in his chair and glancing at Chris. "You needed something to make you smile when you came home and something worth coming home _to_ because I live with Joey and you live by yourself in the hills and so maybe you can talk to the fish if you get lonely."

Chris raised an eyebrow. "I don't get lonely, Dare."

"Bullshit. Everyone gets lonely. And I've seen your face when people aren't paying attention to you. Your eyes drift and you try to listen to everyone to see if you can make a comment but at the same time, you clearly don't want to include yourself. That's lonely, Chris." Darren rubbed his eyes and scraped his curls back. "Being in a crowded room of actors and not wanting to talk or not having anyone to talk _to _is loneliness."

Chris felt distinctly uncomfortable and exposed. He'd never realised anyone had actually _noticed _him like that before.

"So anyway, now you have some fish to keep you company while you're writing or rehearsing or whatever it is you do to ignore the world up here. Just make sure you feed them a teeny bit in the morning and when you get home so they don't starve and change two-thirds of the water every fortnight and they should be fine," Darren was saying as he started shoving things back in the bag and heading for the door before Chris' addled brain had even caught up.

"_Darren_," he called, running after him and slipping on the floorboards, colliding with the wall and yelping. Classy, Colfer. Real classy.

"You alright?" Darren said, hands on Chris' face as he examined his forehead where he'd smacked into the stupid wall.

"I'm fine. Nothing some make-up can't cover on Monday if it even bruises," Chris said with an exaggerated eye-roll. Darren smiled faintly and dropped his hands, shoving them into his pockets.

"Well um…I'll…I'll just…y'know, I'll be going," Darren said, nodding his head at the door and stepping back.

"Dare…" Chris started and Darren paused as he straightened up with the bag. Chris bit his lip and sighed. "Thank you."

"Thank you?"

Chris rolled his eyes and stepped forward, tugging Darren into a gentle hug. "Thank you. For the fish. And…and for noticing that maybe I get lonely on set sometimes."

Darren let the bag drop to the floor softly as he wrapped his arms around Chris' waist. "I'm not the only one who's noticed, I'm just the only one that would actually comment on it."

Chris shrugged, head resting on Darren's shoulder as he breathed in deeply. It was nice to just be _held _for a moment. "Thank you anyway for the fish. I'm sure they'll be wonderful company."

Darren pulled away, holding Chris at arms length and assessing his eyes. "If you need human company, you know I'd be here if you needed me, yeah?"

Chris nodded and kissed Darren's cheek lightly. Darren blushed and ducked his head. "I'm well aware of your need to be everyone's friend, just as much as I'm aware you probably have somewhere to be today like recording with Alex or rehearsal with Zach or something with Joey."

"Well, _yeah_, but I can cancel and rearrange it if you wanted to hang out…"

Chris shook his head and pushed Darren towards the door. "I was up writing until five this morning. I'm going back to sleep. You're going to inflict your stupendous amounts of energy on someone else today."

"Sorry?" Darren said as he grabbed his bag up and stepped outside.

"It's alright. Go have a good day while I sleep off brain strain from writing," Chris yawned. "I'll see you Monday, Dare."

Darren nodded, touched Chris' shoulder quickly and then headed back down the path to his car.

Chris watched him go, a fond smile on his face and a wave as Darren departed. He shut the door and turned to go back upstairs, his eyes catching the bowl.

_Fish _though. Stupid things probably wouldn't even last a _day_. And not because he'd drown them in food but because he'd knock the stupid glass bowl off the table and they'd suffocate from lack of water. He shook his head and climbed up his stairs. _Fish_.

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><p><strong>AN:** This was written for _Sophie loves Music and Writing_. It's about four months late (honey, I'm SO sorry!) and I changed it from kitten/puppies to fish because, well, Chris _told _us he has three fish as pets so I just _had _to write about it. It's been planned since Chris tweeted it and I just haven't found the time or the inclination to write it until now. But yay! It's just cute and fluffy and honestly I hate mornings too (it's 5.16am here so I feel much like Chris being up until five writing!) but if Darren turned up on my doorstep with fish, I'd be pretty happy. (Shh Darren, don't perform at Irving Plaza, come to Sydney and give me some fish, okay?)


End file.
